Curio Folio: Potateor

You may have heard about today's partial eclipse, star alignment, and meteor shower, but what about the falling potateor? It was only visible from a narrow part of the sky directly above my apartment, and I could see it clearly with my telescope. Since the telescope does not have a camera, I made a painting of the scene from direct observation. It was an odd shape for a meteor, very potato like as it crashed through the upper atmosphere down towards earth. It took on a charred appearance then broke into pieces and landed in our back yard. Slices of the meteor were a crispy golden-brown with the aroma of french fries. Piles of debris were rather like mashed potato. I dared to taste a bit and sure enough... potato! How a giant potato-meteor (potateor) ever came to be in space we may never know, perhaps a tech-billionaire launched it into space for reasons unknown, or there are aliens that fly via potato ships. At any rate, it makes a wonderful addition to my curio folio of things you have never hear about, but absolutely really exist in real life. 

Curio Folio Potateor, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, August 2026

Westhaven field and flowers

At the end of Harley street int he Westhaven neighborhood, there is a field belonging to Loyola College, and it contains a community garden called Collectif - Le Dépot Garden. I've painted there many times before, too many to count,  because its a very relaxing and beautiful place to paint the trees, grass and flowers, and its nearby my office over at the Concordia University campus. Here are links you can click to a brown chair in the field, another scene of flowers, and a painting of the community garden. 

Field and flowers Collectif, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

Today I talked to one of the community members who maintains gardens, and is active in preserving the use of the land for community, her name is Cynthia, I first talked to her last year. Today she gave me some dried brown eyed Susan-type flowers which contains seeds I plan to add into our local 'garden street corner' they installed up on Somerled. She also is writing a land use report and wanted to include a painting or two in the report. I gladly offered her to right-click a few images and use in a report. I really appreciate this space and wish the continued success of all the locals who volunteer to keep it going. 

Hydrant field and flowers Collectif, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026 

 

Scenes along bike path near Trenholme park

Riding along the Maisonneuve bike path behind Trenholme park, and there were a few good scenes to paint after work. This one shows the train tracks and pea stone embankment in partial shadows, with creeper vines growing along the front fence. The shadow was done with dilute indo blue (PB60) dark magenta (PV55) and burnt red ochre (PR102). 

Train track embankment shadow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Looking towards the park, and you see an embankment grown over with wildflowers, a kind of yellow Queen Anne Lace variety. I worked up successive layers of green, yellow-green, yellow and dabs of dark green and brown. It was a real 'flex' on the yellow-green range of my palette. In the background, is one of the large condos buildings on Sherbrooke street. 

Yellow flower embankment horizontal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

As I painted the previous scene, I noticed a few bright white flowers growing in among the yellow wildflowers, but it was too late to include them in that painting. In this version, I composed the scene on the vertical axis, then made sure to keep the paper showing where you see the white flowers. Bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184) provided the intensity here, although it is a very opaque paint, it can shine when put next to more neutral colours. 

Yellow flower embankment vertical, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026 

 

 

Purple Ferrari hazy day

I've been making paintings of this Ferrari sitting at the auto shop next to Decarie highway, its front left wheel was busted up and removed. Finding a spot on the sidewalk I made a portrait of it, then super-imposed the Decarie view to give an impression that the car is zooming up the off-ramp. Working the purple colours in successive layers, I also created an eerie glow all around with raw sienna (PBr7) and yellow ochre (PY43) in the sky and on the roads. So there you have it, the famous purple Ferrari brought back to life, on the road again, at least in my painting!

Purple Ferrari hazy day, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, August 2026

Yellowish sky, hazy day

I stopped first at 'triangle park', near the Vendome 5-way intersection, and made a painting of the neat tree that grows there. Its a birch tree, and its bark is always peeling off. Maybe it needs some extra birch tree nutrients. With a hazy, yellowish sky mid-afternoon, it was a sign of wild fire smoke once again. The yellows look really bright, the blues turn greyish, and everything has an eerie glow. 

Birch tree bark peeling, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

The yellow-orange sun was penetrating through a hazy pale-blue grey sky today. Hanging over a glass vaulted arch, it made for some interesting scenery to paint on location. A faint smell of 'camp-fire' confirmed this was from a far-off forest fire. I was standing in Dorchester square downtown, looking northwest. 

Glass vaulted arch yellow sun, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Taking on this scene, while the sky dried on the previous painting, I captured the intersection of Rene-Levesque and Peel street. Avoiding blue, I tinted the cars yellow with dilute raw sienna (PBr7) and yellow ochre (PY43), then used black (PBk6) for shadowing and details. This painting seems significant to me, in that its perhaps the best painting yet of such a scene. When downtown the amount of stuff can be overwhelming. Using a sharper brush and larger sheet might get even better results. 

Traffic near Dorchester square hazy day, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

This painting was a bit of a fail, the paper was absorbing too fast creating flat washes and difficult to control details. I will try the scene again sometime, although its always back-lit. Perhaps a night scene would be good here, its a famous pub with a lively crowd. Soon I will get back to using new paper, for now I am working on the backs of old paintings as I consolidate the collection a tad. There is one more to post from today, I will make a separate blog for it, its a neat one!  

Peel PJD Pub, watercolour 6 x 9" cold press, August 2026 

Looking back: London Ontario, street scenes

As you might know, I tend to paint a lot of garbage cans, bins, dumpsters, you name it. This was one of my favorites, almost photo-realistic, it was done on campus (University of Western). They had immaculate waste containers, a tasteful pea-stone and concrete cylinder equipped with one shiny black garbage bag. 

Benches and bin, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, ~2002

It was the colour contrast between the purple shadow and yellow parking lot devices that drew my attention. You can see the same type of attention to local shadows as the first painting of the bin, and it may well have been painted on the same day. I would walk around campus and surrounding areas making paintings bu carrying a backpack and a camping chair. 

Yellow parking boxes, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press ~2002

Finally, a scene of the new (at the time) art building which was built down on a flood plain. So a drawbridge-style entrance was build to get into the front door (the building was surrounded by a kind of moat). I liked the framing of all the traffic posts, with some tulips in the foreground. 

Art building facade, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, ~2002

 

Looking back: London Ontario, different seasons

These painting were all done on location around 2000 give or take a few years. I was more into abstract surrealism at the time, but made a few location paintings now and then. I remember sitting at home during winter nighttime, really wanting to go out and paint, so I headed to the parking lot under a strong overhead flood light. The snow-covered car with its red tail lights really stood out against the surrounding snow and murky dark-cyan sky. 

Car in parking lot winter, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

These apartments were out in the farmer fields of north London, I wonder if any of those fields are still there? I guess that developments were made, like around Bolton. It was lightly raining, some time late autumn or early spring I'm not sure exactly. It seemed like the painting was a disaster but when I got it home and it dried, it looked fantastic. 

Apartments light rain, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

I thought, if the lamp post is crooked, then I will paint it crooked! Its the same parking lot as the winter painting, but you see an autumn-orange tree in the background. 

Parking lot autumn, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press